Dallas
Baptist was selected as the favorite in the Western Athletic
Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll, in voting by the league’s
head coaches as released by the conference office.

The Patriots, under head coach Dan Heefner
(left), picked up eight first-place votes and 80 points to
outdistance second-place Texas State, with one first-place vote
and 65 points. New Mexico State took third with 60 points, while
Sacramento State came in fourth with one first-place vote and 54
points. CSU Bakersfield was fifth, followed by UT Arlington,
Louisiana Tech, UTSA, San Jose State and Seattle.

This year’s version of the WAC is an interesting
collection of teams. There are four holdovers from 2012: New
Mexico State, Sacramento State, Louisiana Tech and San Jose
State. There are three former Southland Conference members in
Texas State, UT Arlington and UTSA. The remaining three (Dallas
Baptist, CSU Bakersfield and Seattle) were independents a season
ago.

DBU was 41-19 in 2012 and
earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second
straight season. The Patriots reached the Super Regionals in
2011.

The 2013 campaign begins on Friday, Feb. 15, with
all 10 teams in action. Conference play kicks off the weekend of
March 22-24. Texas State travels to New Mexico State to
highlight that weekend. The WAC Tournament will be held at
QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie, Texas. The eight-team tournament
will be played May 22-26.